Cigar-Box-Guitar-O-Rama

  When my buddy Tay saw pictures of my "Truckster" build (I'll share that one with you guys later, it's pretty badass, if I do say so myself), I was asked if I could do a similar one, but with gold hardware. I figured, "why not?"  So I got to looking for some gold parts (some were easy to get, others had to come from specialty locations), but I wanted it to be as close as possible in overall makeup to mine.  From the knobs to the strap buttons to the corner protectors to the finishing washers, I wanted to make this "pop".  I did choose for this one to have one of my "regular" necks instead of the 3-on-a-side headstock like mine, just for consistency with some of my other builds that have started making their way into players' hands, and this one features matching gold split-shaft vintage-style tuners and string trees. A pair of Firebird-style pickups (with independent volumes, master tone and a 3-way switch), a roller-saddle bridge an...

  Not my first cigar box guitar I've made with a rubber bridge (my first personal build for myself features a rubber bridge--I'll have to share that one sometime), but this one's different for several reasons.  First off, YES, it DOES have pickups. Starting with a modified OEM high-output humbucker under the lid, which gets a LOT cleaner tone and overall decreased output due to the distance from the strings (the lid itself really has little-to-no effect on the magnetic field), which is going to the front volume control, and a pair of 1.25" piezo discs under the saddle going to volume control #2.  Secondly, this was a cool opportunity for me to use one of the stainless steel sheet tailpieces like I used on the acoustic project previously, since I just needed a simple anchor for the strings, nothing fancy, and it worked PERFECTLY as not just a no-nonsense tailpiece but also as a means to anchor the center-block to the box on the rear.  And thirdly, in a nod to the fad ...

Built from a swanky Ashton Symmetry/Sublime round-topped thick-walled box, the "Rhythm King" is made for heavy-handed chord strumming. Equipped with a vintage-style "toaster" pickup that's warm but really chimey-sounding, along with a hidden passive piezo for those honking, rough-around-the-edges old-school CBG sounds, I strung this one up with heavier-gauge strings than I usually use, to get the most "oomph" out of this sleek-yet-chunky creation. The deep box allowed me to use a "strat-style" jack (the "football" jack), and I went with smaller sound hole covers to keep it tidy in front and show off that wood finish (and the ornate decal on the front). Tune-o-matic bridge and an anchor-style tailpiece akin to what you see on the Gibson double-neck guitars. This one has a classy look due to its shiny walnut colored finish and smoothed-over front corners, and it's also a very lively, resonant-sounding instrument to boot! The ...

  While building cigar box guitars, it occurred to me that one of the coolest things I could do is be able to perform with them myself, demonstrating these are not just "guitar-like instruments" but are indeed fully functional guitars in every sense. And what better an opportunity to use one of my mad scientist creations than in W4WVK, where being a mad scientist is a prerequisite, in a power-duo where my one instrument and my two hands must provide both guitar AND bass duties simultaneously?  So this one had to share at least SOME things I like about my Gibson and Epiphone SG guitars, but also had to be personalized and have its own identity.  I went with a "Flying V Custom"-style neck with a mid-60's profile chunky neck loaded with some TonePros Kluson vintage tuners, for the ultimate cool factor. Also thought I'd do the custom truss rod cover since this one was built specifically for the band. Taking my favorite Oliva cigar box and giving it a raw mahogan...

  I found several Arturo Fuente "Queen B" boxes, and wanted one of them to be a short-scale bass. I had this old pull-off neck (30" scale length) and it just so happened to fit the need nicely, so long as I opted for the "neck joint free of the body" type construction I use on most of my guitar builds. I might could've inset the neck mid-mounting plate, but I wanted to make sure the bridge was solidly mounted, so I went with the end-of-the-body mount. A "P/J" pickup combination with independent volume controls and master tone control seemed appropriate, and I DID (due to the extra real estate on/in the box compared to my other bass builds) also mount a piezo disc under the lid.  The original tuners on the neck had gear issues, so I went ahead and upgraded it to some standard "elephant ear" style tuners.  I thought originally about making this a "piccolo" bass, but opted against it when I had to reverse-shim the neck a little an...

I've built a couple of custom CBGs based on players' go-to instruments, and one I've been asked to make a couple times is based on a Fender Stratocaster. I build them with my favorite Oliva 135th Anniversary boxes to create another "familiar yet different" instrument that a gigging Stratocaster player can strap on and enjoy. It's got some bumps and bruises I touched up a little (common on these upcycled cigar boxes, especially these glossy lacquered boxes), but as you can see, definitely a looker, and it does "the Strat thing" wonderfully! It comes with a basic toploader hardtail bridge, 3 "Strat-style" ceramic single-coil pickups bring you the noise (inside is shielded, so not “too much noise”, mind you), mounted in black/white/black 3-ply pickup rings. I used a traditional style 5-way blade and loaded it with the vol (magnetic pickups)/master tone/vol (under-lid passive piezo) configuration, exiting through the classic "football...